An Atlas of Scottish History to 1707

The present atlas has been almost fifteen years in the making. It contains not only maps, but also diagrams, plans, charts and tables covering the history of Scotland from the earliest times up to 1707, along with explanatory tests where these are necessary. The table of contents shows the range of matters covered in the atlas. Naturally, most of the atlas is concerned with the lands which were later to form in the kingdom of Scotland: but other maps deal with Scotland's contact with parts of Europe, a small part of Asia and the Americas.

A large part of Scottish history deals with invasions by whole peoples, such as the Angles from the south and the Scots from the west as well as the inward flow of military invaders from Agricola to Cromwell and the less frequent and less successful invasions of England by the Scots.

The development of the church and of the royal administration over the period is covered in large sections; and the section dealing with economic affairs is the largest of all. It includes such topics as the burghs, taxation and the trends in domestic and foreign trade.

It has been possible to keep the price of the atlas at a figure within the reach of students, because of the generosity of benefactors and because the contributors assigned their copyright in the atlas to its trustees who are recognised as a charity. As with the previous atlas, this new enlarged atlas is designed not only for students but also for anyone who has an interest in the development of Scotland.

The design associated with the atlas is a drawing by Anona Lyons of a rare whalebone plaque carved with horses heads. The plaque was part of a find excavated in November 1991 from the site of a Viking burial boat on island of Sanday in Orkney.